'The Vampire Diaries' Recap: 'I'm Thinking of You All the While' Season 6 'Finale' Episode 22, Goodbye Elena

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The night that fans of "The Vampire Diaries" have been both dreading and anticipating is here. In "I'm Thinking of You All the While," the season six finale and 22 episode fans bid farewell to Elena Gilbert.

Kai puts Elena's life in jeopardy after arriving at Alaric an Jo's wedding last week and tearing the place apart. Bonnie must fight back one her own in order to disrupt an evil plan that has been put in place against her, but how will she fair when her best friend is suffering? Damon has to make the most difficult decisions he's made in the entire history of "The Vampire Diaries" when Elena is at her lowest.

It's now clear to Stefan how much more Lily cares about her family of heretics than she does her own flesh and blood. Matt, Tyler, Alaric, Caroline, Bonnie, Stefan and Damon all pay their respects to a fallen friend.

The season finale kicks off with Damon laying in the middle of the road as Elena walks over to him on the ground where they first met. He says he's feeling symbolic and they share an innocent kiss. She says it's bad isn't it and Damon tries to avoid the situation at hand. There are bodies lying everywhere including Jo's.

Alaric is holding Jo in his arms while Damon is holding Elena in his. Stefan orders him to get her to the hospital now and when he leaves Kai breaks Stefan and Caroline's necks.

The Gemini Coven is coming together with a spell that is suppose to help Jo. Then, out of nowhere Kai commits suicide.

Alaric remembers sparring with Elena in the woods. He tells her he can't do this because he has nothing left to fight for and the flashback is over. Damon receives a call from Bonnie as he watches over Elena in the operating room.

Jo has been pronounced dead and while there is nothing physically wrong with Elena, she just won't wake up. Enzo has rescued Stefan and Caroline so that they can help him with a bigger problem.

Stefan arrives to greet his mom who is frantically searching for her family of heretics. Stefan tries to tell her that she's wasting her time but she doesn't listen.

Tyler and Live lay on the floor hurting and near death. Kai killed himself which means the entire coven is going to die, including Liv. Tyler finally admits that he loves Liv. She doesn't want to believe that Tyler is dying and urges him to turn since it's on a full moon.

He doesn't want to trigger his curse but he made a promise to Liv to not waste his second chance. Tyler has the incredibly heart-wrenching task of taking the life of the woman he loves so that she no longer feels the pain of dying.

Once the deed is over Tyler is beyond enraged.

Damon is watching over his love Elena who doesn't seem to be responding. Tyler is beginning to turn and he calls Matt for help to inform all vampires to stay clear of him. Meanwhile, Stefan is still mocking her mom as she searches for her "family." She says that being reunited is enough to tame her ripper side. Stefan tells her that she either comes with him right now or she's out of his life.

Stefan grabs her an asks her what she gave Kai. It looks like Lily gave Kai vampire blood which keeps him from truly dying. Kai has appeared to have been turned into a heretic himself.

Alaric places Jo in the back of his car and he looks emotionally torn. He grabs a gun from the glove compartment and sees Kai walking towards him. He tries to kill him by shooting him multiple times, however, it's unaffected.

Alaric tries to turn the gun on himself however he has run out of bullets. Just then Tyler attacks and bites Kai. Is this how Kai meets his end? Suffering from a fatal hybrid bite from Tyler?

There is another flashback of Elena and Matt who are standing on the bridge before she is reborn again. Matt walks in on Bonnie who found a tape that Kai left her. He mocks them and tells them that they are still alive because he wants to make Bonnie suffer. Damon receives a warning text but Kai interrupts and asks him what is happening to him.

Damon tells him that he is in a very volatile place after telling him that he is dying from the Tyler bite. Kai says that Elena is in perfect help and she'll stay that way until she wakes.

Elena's life is linked to Bonnie's, as long as Bonnie is alive Elena will sleep. There is no way around it if Bonnie tries to find a way both she and Elena will die.

Matt urges Bonnie to leave because Damon only cares about himself and Elena. Kai is playing a troubling games that plants Damon against one of his best friends and the love of his life.

It's a test of his character now.

Stefan and Elena take a walk in another flashback where Elena is saying goodbye. She tells him he knew that she never wanted to be a vampire and he knew her better than anyone else. She's finding it impossible to find the words to say goodbye and Stefan says he can't do it, not right now.

Caroline is asking Stefan if he's going to be okay if she doesn't make it. Stefan agrees that Elena was his soulmate and that they loved each other but she's the only one that reminded him that his brother was worth loving.

He loved her for bringing her brother and him together however, he needed him more than he needed Elena.

Stefan asks Caroline if that's the reason she's scared of him but she's too emotional and flustered to carry on the conversation.

Kai walks back into his party and asks if anyone is still alive. He runs into Bonnie who mocks him in his current state. She begins a spell that sends Kai mad and demands that he undo the spell.

He tells her he can't undo the spell because his death made it permanent. In a crazy twist, Kai begins to heal himself and says that he syphoned the magic from the bite.

He attacks Bonnie who looks to be in pretty bad shape and amazement.

Another flash reveals Damon telling Elena that she won't wake up until Bonnie dies. Damon says that Kai won and asks Damon what he's going to do. That's when Damon finds Bonnie laying on the floor hurt and dying.

Kai tells Damon that he's dumb for not killing Bonnie to live the life he always wanted with Elena. As Bonnie lay dying, Damon says he's so sorry and kisses her on the forehead.

He walks away leaving her there to die and Kai is completely surprised at Damon's reaction. Damon then beheads Kai and rushes to feed Bonnie his blood to keep her alive.

A casket lays open with the sun shining in on it through a window in the Salvatore mansion. Damon has gathered everyone in the room and says let's do this. It looks like a funeral has been prepared for Elena and Caroline guides Bonnie on how to say goodbye to her friend. She tells her to close her eyes, take her hand and let her into her mind.

The three best friends are in Elena's room saying goodbye. She asks Caroline and Bonnie to write down everything that they've accomplished in life so that when she wakes up she can read about her best friends lives as if she were alive.

Bonnie is extremely remorseful and begins to apologize but Elena tells Bonnie that she's spent all her life making sacrifices for her, now she needs to make one for Bonnie.

She asks Bonnie for one last favor, to make the feathers of their pillows float magically in the air around them.

Matt says his goodbye and Elena hopes for him to stay human, loyal and to spend the rest of his life protecting and fighting for the people around him. She then has to say goodbye to Alaric and urges him to let himself drown in the loss. Then, he'll start to swim and every breath inside of him will making him stronger and he will succeed.

Jeremy Gilbert returns to say his final goodbye to his sister. He takes her hand and she couldn't be happier to see that her brother made it.

She wanted to pretend to be strong for him but she breaks down. He assures her that he wants her to know that he spent the rest of his life doing what he loved because of her.

Tyler receives advice to leave Mystic Falls but to embrace being a wolf. No comes Elena's first love Stefan with tears filling his eyes. He lets himself in and Elena thanks him for bumping into her in the hallway. She tells him that he saved her life and she loves her so much.

She is really awaiting her return to see what he's turned his life into years from now. She tells him to be happy and that she will see him soon.

This episode will really pull at your heartstrings. Not because of the loss of a main character, but because of how much it makes you revisit the entire journey so far from past season of TVD to now.

Enzo visits Lily and she says he must think of her as a monster, however, he tells her they are all monsters in a way. Lily says she felt a part of something with the heretics and Enzo tells her he can relate. He then notices a building that wasn't there last night.

It was cloaked by Kai and when they walk inside Lily's entire family of heretics greets her.

Stefan asks Damon if he thinks Elena will be safe from other vampires looking for the cure. Damon says that Bonnie will spell the room shut.

It's now time for the final goodbye between two star-crossed lovers. Damon says that the evil Damon would have sacrificed his best friend for his love. Elena knew that the real Damon she loved wouldn't make the wrong decision. Elena tells Damon that she doesn't want him to shut down, she wants him to live his life and be happy.

Then, there is the final dance between the two as Elena's tears roll down her eyes. Stefan knocks at Caroline's door elsewhere and tells her that he understand he hasn't made it easy on her, however, he made a list of all the ways loving her has changed him.

Stefan owes everything to Caroline and he says if he has to wait for her, he will wait and when she's ready for him he will be ready for her.

The look on Caroline's face is priceless as Stefan walks out.

The final dance between Damon and Elena as Stefan declares his love for Caroline seems like a passing of a torch. They confess their love for each other and share one last kiss.

The Salvatore coffin has be spelled shut. Matt is on a late night patrol and Damon is watching over the town from the clocktower.

"I'm Thinking of You All the While" takes heartbreak to a whole new level. Whether it's the exit of Nina Dobrev's character or the realization that Stefan's mother chose heretics over her own sons tonight was a heavy episode.

Julie Plec and "The Vampire Diaries," writers, cast and crew have done an excellent job to honor the memory of Elena Gilbert.

Fans who can't get enough will have to tune in next season to see what The CW hit has in store or head over to the shows main page.

Photos that sum up tonights episode.